Tag Archives: social media

Isn’t it great that I have this blog? That I have multiple blogs? That this website exists? Yeah, it is–and up until several years ago, this whole blogging thing wasn’t even a thought.

Yeah–go back a decade, and the “opinion journalism” craze that we’re currently engulfed in wasn’t even a blip on our technological radar. Wow. I can’t even conceive living in a world without Youtube videos promoting some sort of activism, or snarky Twitter posts about the latest celebrity scandal, or Tumblr–just the existence of Tumblr. I use my Tumblr about once a month (if that), yet I still find immense comfort in its flood of gifs and inspirational notes and blue-and-white background. It’s amazing–all of it.

I suppose the first steps in this Glorious Direction should be credited to Xanga. Yeah, remember Xanga? It started up back in 1999, and is probably the earliest blogging website to hit the internet. It allowed their users to post weblogs and photoblogs, subscribe to other Xanga blogs, give and receive “eProps” for their posts–all that good stuff. It was the first of its kind, and truly laid the groundwork for all that came after. You may think it gratuitous to compare THE Facebook to the near-extinct Xanga, but Zuckerburg’s “statuses” and “notes” were NOT the first of their kind. Xanga has a good four, five years on the prototype of Facebook–the polished product, several more. So let’s give credit where credit is due.

So yeah, blogging and social networking and Internet are absolutely awesome. We couldn’t survive without it, yet it’s such a constant element in our lives, we hardly think about the RADICAL impact it’s had on our world’s development. We thank you, Social Media, for all that you’ve done for us, right here in this blog post.